Franny's Pizzeria In Park Slope Retracts 3 Percent 'Obamacare' Surcharge
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- That didn't take very long.
A few days after Franny's in Park Slope added a 3 percent surcharge to cover the costs of "Obamacare" for its employees, the pizzeria's owners changed their mind.
Co-owner Francine Stephens told Eater an updated menu would be posted Wednesday and that the charge has been removed.
The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, requires all companies with 50 or more full-time employees to provide their staff with fairly priced health insurance. Franny's qualifies because its owners also run two other establishments.
"We embraced Obamacare, and in realizing the cost, covered as much as we could on our own, and then asked our guests to contribute a very small amount," Adler said.
"We've always been criticized for prices so we said, 'Hold on -- before we start putting $22, $23 pizza on the menu, let's be transparent about what that money is actually going towards,'" executive chef John Adler told CBS2's Tracee Carrasco on Tuesday.
While the pizzeria charges $20 for a pie and $19 for a pasta dish, having to foot the entire bill for their employees' healthcare is costly.
To explain why they imposed and then retracted the surcharge, Franny's sent the following letter to customers:
It is appearing that many of our guests are viewing the proposed ACA surcharge as anti-Obamacare, which is so unfortunate, because it is in fact, quite the opposite! Through this surcharge, franny's is embracing Obamacare. Clearly our intent was misunderstood and our guests have made it clear that they would prefer to see higher prices as opposed to a surcharge. We've always worked in the service of our staff and guests and will amend our prices accordingly while removing the surcharge entirely.
Initially, we thought, before we start putting $22 pizza on the menu, let's be transparent about what that money is actually going towards. However, it seems given the stated preference of our guests as well as the potential for misinterpretations into the future, we will retract the surcharge and reconfigure our menu pricing instead.
We hold it essential to who we are as a company to take care of our staff—and our guests. We are listening to you all.
